


Xisuma Takes a Hard Fall

by NightFlyer17771



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Other, Permadeath, Whump, falling, suffocation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27165385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightFlyer17771/pseuds/NightFlyer17771
Summary: Xisuma was working in a high place and when he falls, his helmet slips off. He can’t breathe in the Overworld without it.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 57





	Xisuma Takes a Hard Fall

It was raining. . . again. How wonderful. I still needed to work through it. The mud and gathering puddles looked unpleasant to fall or slip in, so I was thankful I was perched on the roof. It was slick up here too, but there was just water so it would be fine, just a little annoying. What was really annoying though, was the visor on my helmet. It kept fogging up and blurring my vision. There was nothing much I could do about it but press a few select buttons on the side of my helmet, which circulated air and cleared things up a bit. That wasn’t the bothersome part about it, sure it was a great tool embedded in my life retaining helmet, but I couldn’t keep it on for long. It took a lot of energy to keep my air regulated 24/7 and circulating air was the use of needed power. The helmet would produce breathable air at a slower rate, and that was never good. 

I was near the edge of the roof fixing a few select details, always being wary of the drop. It was about a thirty block drop, not the best way to end the day. I stopped placing blocks for a moment to stop the helmet from clearing my vision as my airflow was slowing. I was crouching down uncomfortably and only intended to quickly turn the function off. I reached up to fidget with the settings feeling for the right bumps to push in. My hand traveled around the light metal searching, but I couldn’t find it. Frustrated, I stood abruptly, just wanting to get this over with. I was soaking in the rain, shivering in the cold, and just wanted to get this work over with and now I have this annoying setting that wouldn’t cooperate with me. 

I should not have stood as quickly as I did. When my knees locked I was already falling, arms reaching out desperately for something to support me with. My hand was still on my helmet when I tumbled, and when I reached for support, I pushed it off my head slightly, moving it crooked and shifting my breathing peace out of order. Before I could replace it on my head, I fell. I fell off the roof. The wind grabbed the helmet where it was exposed and violently ripped it off my head, exposing me to unfamiliar air and the elements. 

“-uma!” 

My helmet, I need my helmet. I was half-aware of my situation when I felt I hand on my back, signaling that someone was there. My lungs burned, unable to get the proper air supply. I rolled back over and tried to push myself up. I climbed to my knees and then to one foot, only for the lack of modified Oxygen to dizzy me and I fell over again. 

My helmet was ripped off of me during the fall. I had hit the ground hard and was unable to move as I realized what just happened. Then the absence of my breathing tool struck me hard. I quickly scrambled to my knees and frantically examined what was around me for it as my breathing took a dip for the worse. I couldn’t find it. 

I had to get up, but all I could do was silently scramble on the ground gagging and trying with everything I had to breathe, to take in even a small breath. I needed it to breathe, it made the Oxygen thicker for me, which is what I was brought up to live on, I couldn’t breath regular air from the Overworld, it was too thin. I clawed at my neck with gloved hands as I rolled pathetically and my vision became blurry. Then suddenly there were more hands, they were all around me grabbing me. They didn’t understand! I had to have my helmet! I saw faded out figures and slow movements. Everything was moving slower, my actions, and theirs. My hands were pried off my throat and held down next to me. Black spots started coating what I had left to see as people gained control of me. They forced me on my back and held me there and I felt something slide under my green armor and press on my chest, then there were hands around my mouth and neck. 

I gasped. Air filled my burning lungs. I finally took deep wholesome breaths one after another. I was still fighting for the biggest gulp of my personalized air when I let my eyelids close. I felt the hands which were holding me in place slip away slowly, but not the ones on my chest or mouth. 

-

Pain, that’s what I could feel. Especially in my head and lungs. It felt like someone was squeezing it in their hands. My throat was dry and my lungs burned. What happened? My eyes felt glued shut and the rest of my body felt like it was weighed down by stones. I was disoriented and my head spun. There was no sound but it wasn’t silent, there was no light but my eyes burned. My head, there was something touching my head. It was cold, but it was warm. There was a surface under me, a soft cushioning surface melting around my form. There was also something cushioning my head, supporting it, and keeping it still. 

What’s going on? Where am I? I wanted to talk, to say something, to ask for someone. I felt my voice boil up and out my mouth uncontrolled. 

My head hurt more and my throat did not appreciate the action. There was something that hatted my lungs but was forced there. Air, I realized. I felt something heavy on my face, it was cold around that area and as my senses continued to reach further and further I realized it was pushing air into me. Breathing caused this much pain. I heard something, it buzzed in my ear giving me a headache. I wanted to hear it better, but it hurt to listen. I pushed out another sound, still unsure what I was doing. 

“I’ve got you, Xisuma. . . . ” a masculine voice said, “Keralis and Etho are here too,” That voice was so calm and nearly a whisper. I focused on breathing and found that whenever I breathed in or out was when the blowing sound happened most. There were other sounds too, like a soft humming and a small beeping, it sounded so staticky too. But my ears were not the only instruments picking up on the situation. I put my entire mind to moving my fingers, it was a task, but I scratched what was underneath them. It felt smooth, and that was all I could get out of it before something warm wrapped around my hand, curling my fingers in and holding me tight. I relaxed into it. It was grounding me and I took to focus on that more than anything else. But it didn’t last long. 

There was that other feeling aside from the pain, warmth, but also cold. I was cold and shivering and I was too hot and sweating. I hated the feeling, I wanted it to go. The throbbing in my head turned from coming at me in harsh waves to a dull pain throughout. That voice, who did it belong to? I know it, I know it. But I don’t. My hand was put down and another wave of pain hit me hard. It started at the back of my head and traveled to my stomach, where it urged me to move, to open my eyes and figure things out. I felt sloshy inside, I wanted to throw up, to get it all out, but nothing happened. 

“Hnnng. . . “ I tried calling out to the voices again but was only capable of forming untranslatable whines of pain. Wake up, I told myself. Wake up, wake up! Open your eyes. I focused all my attention on my eyelids which refused to comply with what I was working so hard to do. 

“Your fine Shishwammy, don’t tire yourself. You can just lay there and not do anything. We got you,” it was another male voice. Not the same one as last time, but just as calm, collected, and quite. I stopped trying to open my eyes and felt my knee being pushed back down. Did I move that? There was something about that second voice that calmed me significantly. I know them, I know you. Who are you? My mind spun, searching for answers, and finding none. As I was thinking I heard faint shuffling around me. The blowing sound of air being pushed to my nose and mouth relaxed me. If my eyes were open I would have slowly closed them as I was lulled back to sleep. 

Joe’s POV

I was lazily watching his outline scurry back and forth on the imperfect roof. I was sort of frustrated at Xisuma for being so persistent, it was just a roof. He had been out in the cold rain for hours and I knew he would get sick, what was he thinking? I would go and drag the sorry admin ass back here with the rest of us, or the few of us, in a minute when I finished my hot drink. He would most likely do something stupid while he was sick too. Sitting comfortably by the window, surrounded by heavy blankets, and sipping some hot tea, I watched the rainfall. It was pleasant and I caught myself nodding off once or twice. Etho and Keralis, the two other healers on the server, were with me in the building along with some other hermits, like Ren and Doc, Wels was here too somewhere. We were all just waiting out the unfortunate weather, voluntarily cooping ourselves up in this building, board out of our minds. 

I saw him fall. I saw his faded silhouette tumbling to the ground. But I wasn’t the only one, Ren was also watching his, but he was closer to the door without being trapped by a nest of blankets. A few of the others saw him too and shared the news, all while hustling to the exit. Karlis was gone already but Etho helped me and grabbed me under my arm and pulled me free of the blankets. 

When I arrived to assess the situation, Xisuma was thrashing wildly around, clawing at his neck with one hand. His dark brown hair stuck to his panicked face without a helmet on. He wasn’t breathing. His dark eyes winded in terror while he gasped on empty space, he might as well be drowning. He needed support breathing. His arm, his left arm, was being dragged with his movements. That was not a good sign at all. His shoulder was bulged forward awkwardly, to me it was clearly dislocated. 

“Hold him!” I ordered and hands grabbed him everywhere, trying to pin him without hurting him. It was okay to hold him down in this case, there wasn’t much else we could do to get to him. Holding him down would make it easier for us to treat him, he was going to be okay as long as we could get to him. Doc had his legs and Ren, with Keralis, grabbed his arms. Xisuma, although still struggling a little, became visibly weaker, his movements slower and more worked through. “Wels, get to his head and change the air consistency he’s breathing,” while wels crouched behind Xisuma’s head, I quickly kneeled and lifted his green turtle-like armor and slipped my hand on his chest above his lungs. I focused all my healing magic on him and his respiration. He would need help taking the new and changing air for the first few breaths. 

I carefully forced his lungs to take in the first gulp of air to his lungs. After that, he filled his lungs on his own. At first, his gasps were uneven and desperate, not being familiar with what was now in him, but after I worked my magic again, he was breathing calmer. 

This transaction took a lot out of Xisuma, and his limbs quickly relaxed in the hermits’ hands and he went still. l looked over at Wels who was working his elven magic with hands hovering over his face, momentarily making breathable better air for Xisuma. Xisuma, though, was unconscious. Still breathing rapidly, but calming down, his eyes were closed and he showed no more signs of putting up a resistance. The others cautiously let him go, stepping away and giving him room. 

-

With the help of the others, we got Xisuma to my infirmary. Wels kept a study flow of air to him, staying by his head the whole time. Etho held his arm in place after we ruled out the option of relocating it onsite, seeing that he was in more need of breathing, and I readied myself for anything else Xisuma would spontaneously need. 

The moment he was settled in a bed, I had him breathing with a machine like an oxygen tank, but with modified air. He had the mask around his face while his helmet was being recovered. 

Only the healers were left in the room with Xisuma, everyone else being pushed out. Etho numbed his shoulder so we could move it back in place, while Keralis stabled his arm in a more supportive position. I took his gloves off and his boots came off with only a few buckles. I pulled what armor I could off and the rest I had to cut what kept it on, piling in a semi-organized heap in a designated area. He was left in a simple black soft long-sleeved shirt and pants. I thoroughly scanned over the rest of him, making sure he hadn’t sustained any other injuries we didn’t know about. He was fine. There was nothing else to worry about. I used a little magic, only to prove there was nothing internally wrong. I would have known first thing anyway, but it was always good to double-check. 

The whole time I kept silent and to myself, while Etho and Keralis conversed. I had mixed feelings about the situation. I was so mad at him I had half a mind to leave him here to suffer, but there was no way I would do that to him, to anyone. Why would you go and do that X? In the rain, the cold. I sighed and lifted the back of my hand to his forehead, he was hot and had a mild fever. Damn it X, really? On the roof even, you just had to, didn’t you? 

While we were finishing with Xisuma, he woke up. Well, I mean he was less unconscious, he didn’t really wake up. We were cleaning up and then he groaned, it was quite pitiful really. He went still and did nothing for a bit, then he started moving. “I’ve got you, Xisuma. Keralis and Etho are here too,” I said, even though he could not speak himself, I knew he could hear me. He grabbed at the sheets with his undamaged arm and I went to hold his hand in mine, lifting it, and giving him a gentle squeeze for reassurance that we were there. The air we provided him was enough to keep him alive but it wasn’t rich enough to give him very much strength. He was left weak until his helmet was found. Ren was sent out, mostly voluntarily, to find it. That was only about half an hour ago but he should be back soon, and hopefully with it. 

Xisuma, though, was not as patient as it would seem, and he moved his leg up, suggesting he might have been trying to get up, but that made me internally laugh, seeing as he was mostly asleep with air just sustaining him. “Your fine Shishwammy, don’t tire yourself. You can just lay there and not do anything. We got you,” Keralis said while taking Xisuma’s armor in one scoop, making his way to the door but slowing down to talk to Xisuma. Etho eased his leg back relaxed with the other on the bed. 

-

At the current time, Xisuma was sleeping safely in a bed in a room down the hall. We had relocated his arm with less struggle than it normally would since he was completely relaxed and unconscious. Keralis, Etho, and I were now out in a comfortable lounge area with the others, playing games, talking, Doc was taking a nap, and the occasional visit to Xisuma. 

I glanced out the window from where I sat talking to Wels and saw a figure coming our way. As it trotted closer to my build I saw the wolf clearer, it was as tall as a human with powerful legs and a bulky body. It’s massive paws splashed in on the path, splattering mud on it’s lower legs. It’s tail wagging with something clenched in its mouth while it made a beeline towards us. I identified Ren, and he was carrying Xisuma’s helmet, a huge grin in his eyes.


End file.
